07022023-JTR-01.qxd 2/7/2023 12:31 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune HEALTH CENTRE IN SHAHKOT AWAITS UPGRADE TO HOSPITAL HARRY STYLES, BEYONCE WIN BIG AT GRAMMY AWARDS PHULKARI WOMEN OF JALANDHAR HOLD WORKSHOP Shahkot has been waiting for 26 years for the upgrade of the health centre to a civil hospital. P2 Harry Styles took home three awards while Beyonce won her 32nd award, breaking a 26-year-old record. P3 Phulkari Women of Jalandhar held ‘Afreen - Celebrating the Beautiful You’ in Jalandhar recently. P4 » » FORECAST CLEAR SKY MAX 24°C | MIN 9°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 10°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6.04 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:09 AM » TUESDAY | 7 FEBRUARY 2023 | JALANDHAR Eyeing LS poll next year, BJP holds dist meet Union Minister Meghwal to oversee campaign for impending LS byelection Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service CM Bhagwant Mann being honoured during an interactive session with industrialists in Jalandhar. CM leaves event midway, bizmen feel disappointed Tribune News Service DOMESTIC FLIGHTS SOON Jalandhar, February 6 The first meeting of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann with local industrialists ended in disenchantment. The industrialists who had planned to take up various issues with the CM said he did not wait to listen to them. After the opening remarks by the CEO Invest Punjab, KK Yadav, and CII Chairman, Rajesh Kharbanda, the Punjab CM took to dais. He ❝Efforts are afoot for starting domestic flights from Adampur, Halwara and Bhisiana airports to facilitate the industry. Bhagwant Mann, CM ❞ reportedly gave a short speech after which he announced that he was to leave for Amritsar and that minister Anmol Gagan Mann, and the officials of the Industry Department would listen to them. Most industrialists said they had gone to the venue planning to take up several issues with the CM but somehow the whole event lost its fizz when he left the venue alongwith minister Brahm Shankar Jimpa and local MLAs Sheetal Angural and Raman Arora. Minister Anmol Gagan Mann took to the stage but Continued on Page 2 Jalandhar, February 6 A meeting of the district working committee of the BJP was held here today, marking the formal mobilisation of the party cadre and planning ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due next year and the impending byelection to the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal shall be arriving on a 72-hour schedule ahead of the bypoll. Party leaders said Meghwal could arrive anywhere between March end and April; and other union ministers and leaders too would visit the region ahead of the bypoll. The district meeting comes following the national and state-level working committee meetings of the party. Under state BJP president Ashwani Sharma and other senior leaders, officebearers, executive members and mandal heads gathered in Jalandhar today. Sharma said the party was carrying out a detailed analysis of the political situation on the State BJP president Ashwani Sharma during a party meeting in Jalandhar on Monday. MALKIAT SINGH. ground and was confident of a win in the upcoming LS byelections. BJP leader Rajesh Bagha said the party had identified 160 Lok Sabha seats for special campaigns to strengthen its prospects, and Jalandhar was an important seat. He said the Lok Sabha seats were monitored by the BJP team in Delhi. For the Jalandhar seat, Meghwal would be coming on a 72hour visit to Jalandhar, he added. During his visit, he would be participating in various programmes in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency. From the BJP the names , of the leaders doing rounds as key contenders for the Jalandhar LS seat include National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Vijay Sampla; Doaba’s Dalit leader Avinash Chander, two-time MLA and grandson of Dr BR Amebdkar’s aide Seth Kishan Das. Chander is also deemed close to Dera Sachkhand Ballan. Names of Bagha and Rinku Atwal, the son of exDeputy Lok Sabha Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, are also doing the rounds. While the Guru Ravidass Illicit liquor, lahan Cong protests over Adani-Hindenburg row seized during raid Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 6 The Jalandhar rural police seized 7,500 ml of illicit liquor and 50 kg of lahan was seized during a raid at Ismailpur village in Lohian on February 5. The Jalandhar police revealed that during patrol on Sunday, a police party received a tip-off that Gurnam Singh, a resident of Ismailpur village, was selling liquor illegally. A case was registered under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act against Gurnam Singh at the Lohian police station. A raid was conducted at Ismailpur village against Gurmam Singh after which the police recovered 7,500 ml of illicit Cops with seized lahan and illegal liquor in Jalandhar. liquor, 50-kg lahan and things such as pipes and utensils used in running a kiln for the manufacture of illegal liquor. JALANDHAR, FEBRUARY 6 In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary on Monday said the government had helped Adani Group perpetrate the largest con in corporate history. The Phillaur MLA, while participating in a district-level protest organised by the urban and rural units of Jalandhar Congress, said because of the fraudulent practices of the Adani companies, the investors, both large and small, had lost trillions of rupees within a week. Despite such practices, he said, the Central government had gone out of its way to bend its rules to give monetary benefits to one man. MLA Chaudhary stated that the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and public sector banks like State Bank Congress MLAs and other party leaders during a sit-in in Jalandhar on Monday. PHOTO:MALKIAT SINGH of India (SBI) had played with the hard-earned savings of common people and pumped public money into questionable investments, causing losses of tens of thousands of crores of rupees. He further said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had been warning about crony capitalism and favouritism of the Modi government and its dangerous consequences since 2014 and his words about the bursting bubble had proven prescient now. Even after the Hindenburg research’s expose of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades” and subsequent sharp fall in the value of Adani shares, he said, Modi had stayed silent and had ordered no probe in the matter. Reiterating the demand of the Congress, MLA Chaudhary said the allegations against the Adani Group be investigated under the supervision of the Chief Justice of India or by a specially formed Joint Parliamentary Committee. Jalandhar Congress (Rural) president Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, Jalandhar Congress (Urban) president Rajinder Beri, MLA Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, former MLAs Sushil Rinku and Chaudhary Surinder Singh, Nakodarincharge Dr Navjot Dahiya and Jalandhar Mahila Congress president Jasleen Sethi were among the speakers on the occasion. — TNS Labourers, tractor drivers back in business Migrant gets life term at sand mining sites in Nawanshahr district for brother’s murder Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Nawanshahr, February 6 After resuming the supply of sand from Burj Tehal Dass and Khoja pit heads in Nawanshahr, these sites have now again revived as a source of livelihood for labourers. The tractor trolley drivers, who had lost their jobs due to the suspension of sand extraction and mechanical loading of sand, and labourers have resumed the work with full force. About 59 trolleys were loaded with sand till today afternoon from both these sand mining sites. At Khoja, driver Udham Singh, who came from Lalewal village to load a trolley, said the old days were back for tractor trolley drivers and labourers, who had been out of work, with the resumption of the sand sites. One Mohan Das, who visited to fill sand from Bharta village, said today he got sand at a price of Rs 5.50 per cubic foot. About 59 trolleys loaded with sand at Burj Tehal Dass & Khoja pit heads ONLY MANUAL LOADING ALLOWED ❝ Due to manual loading and prohibition on cranes and JCBs, it takes about half an hour to fill a trolley, for which a team of six to eight labourers are engaged at a time. ❞ Gurjeet Singh, SDO (MINING), NAWANSHAHR << A trolley loaded with sand at a pit head in Nawanshahr distrtict. TRIBUNE PHOTO He said for some time it was difficult for the common man to get sand and build a house, but now it seems that many of their problems will be solved by getting sand at a cheap rate. One of the labourers, Sohna, engaged in sand load- ing work at Burj Tehal Dass said for the first time after 15 years, it felt like the government had spared a thought for the poor labourers who work manually. Nawanshahr SDO (Mining) Gurjeet Singh said due to manual loading and prohibition on cranes and JCBs, it takes about half an hour to fill a trolley, for which a team of six to eight labourers work. He said according to the orders of the government, any trolley driver c m y b could load sand by bringing his own labour. While going outside from the sand mine site to the destination, it is also mandatory to cover the trolley to prevent the sand from causing any type of problem to the commuters. Nawanshahr, February 6 The court of District and Sessions Judge Kanwaljit Singh Bajwa on Monday awarded life imprisonment to a migrant for murdering his brother on February 5, 2021. The accused has been identified as Shiri Pal, 31, a native of Biharipur village in Uttar Pradesh, who is now residing in Nawanshahr. A case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Balachaur police station on the complaint of Manjit Singh, a resident of Simbal Mazara village, Balachaur. The complainant stated that the accused, Shiripal, and deceased Taliban, a resident of Dharampur village in Uttar Pradesh, were staying together at a water pump room on an agricultural land owned by one Piara Singh of England where the accused murdered Taliban on the inter- Both worked at farm and constantly fought over money vening night of February 4 and 5 of 2021. Earlier also, both the brothers used to have dispute over money. The accused was arrested by the police on the same day of murder. Pronouncing the quantum of sentence on Monday, District and Sessions Judge Kanwaljit Singh Bajwa, asserted: “Keeping in view the gravity and nature of the offence, convict Shiri Pal is not entitled to any leniency. However, not finding it to be a case falling under the category of “rarest of the rare case”, warranting capital punishment, convict Shiri Pal is sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 302 of IPC with a fine of Rs 10,000. In case of default payment of fine, Shiri Pal will undergo punishment of one more year. Parkash Utsav celebrations in Jalandhar for the past few days witnessed various political parties, including the AAP, BJP and the Congress, reaching out to the members of the Ravidassia community in Jalandhar, the festivities also served as a precursor to the upcoming Lok Sabha bypoll on the Jalandhar LS seat, which is a reserved constituency. Along with the key leaders of the other parties, BJP leaders also held several visits to Dera Sachkhand Ballan Head Sant Niranjan Das and also during the shobha yatra to mark the occasion of the Parkash Purab. BJP state zonal incharge Jeevan Gupta, state unit vice-president Rakesh Rathour, secretary Anil Sachar, district president Sushil Sharma, former MLAs Mahendra Bhagat, KD Bhandari, leader Sarabjit Makkar, Vinod Sharma and former district presidents Raman Pabbi and Ramesh Sharma among others were present in the meeting today. Lohian Khas misses revenue target in three quarters Ashok Kaura Lohian Khas, February 6 The state government has failed to meet its stamp-duty collection targets in Lohian Khas sub-tehsil of the district. Shahkot Tehsildar Harmindar Singh said a sum of over Rs 1.81 crore was collected during the three quarters of the financial year in Lohian Khas sub-tehsil against the target of Rs 7 crore. Collects just ~1.81 cr against target of ~7 cr The Punjab Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Department (Stamps and Registration branch) had fixed a stamp duty collection target of Rs 342.8 crore for the district. Lohian Khas had set a target to collect Rs 3 crore in the third quarter Rs 2 crore in the first and Rs 2 crore in the second quarter and Rs 11 crore during the financial year. However, it collected a sum of Rs 68.21 lakh during the first quarter against a target of Rs 2 crore, Rs 52.74 lakh during the second quarter against a target of Rs 2 crore, and Rs 89.18 lakh in the third quarter against a target of Rs 3 crore. Youth dies in freak accident in bathroom PHAGWARA, FEBRUARY 6 A resident of Adarsh Nagar in Phagwara died allegedly by drowning in bathroom. The deceased has been identified as Omkar Pal (23). Satnampura SHO Jitendra Kumar said poisonous fumes of a geyser leaked because of which Omkar fainted in the bathroom. His towel clogged a drain which led to water accumulation in the bathroom.The deceased was the only son of the family. Investigation in this regard is being carried out by the police. — OC